5 Best Practices For Conversion Rate Optimisation

September 18, 2018

What is Conversion Rate Optimisation?

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is the systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, be that filling out a form, becoming customers, or otherwise. The CRO process involves understanding how users move through your site, what actions they take, and what's stopping them from completing your goals.

A conversion can be a purchase, an email sign-up, the creation of an account, the completion of a survey, an app download.

Let's say your site is doing great in many areas. Traffic is coming through via an effective SEO, paid search, social or content strategy. That's Great! But how many percent of the people visiting your website are actually completing your desired goals?

Whatever the ultimate point of your website is, a conversion is the successful completion of that action. Conversion Rate (CR) is a key metric in ecommerce as it reveals the percentage of your site's total traffic completing a specific goal. The higher the conversion rate the better.

Let's look at the following 5 valuable areas that need to concentrated on to increase the conversion rate:

A/B Testing

Customer Journey Analysis

Customer Feedback

Conversion Funnel Analysis

Segmentation and Personalized Experience

1. A/B Testing

A/B testing is the most effective method to improve the conversion rate. In very basic terms, you set up two different landing pages, each has a different element from the other. Perhaps one has a bright green call-to-action, the other has a slightly less garish colour. Your site presents one of these pages to half your traffic, and the less garish one to the other half.

Then you can then see whether or not a small change to a call-to-action (CTA) can make a difference to conversion.

The button isn't the only element that can be tested of course. Headlines, product copy, image size, layout, amount of text and fonts If it's an element on the page then it can be tested. If testing that element means a chance of increasing conversion, then it should definitely be done.

2. Customer Journey Analysis

The collection of data from every available channel is important in understanding the customer journey. Customer behaviour is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. Their journey from being advertised to researching your brand, visiting your website or store, making a purchase then contacting you for any customer service needs can take place on a massive number of offline and online channels.

It is now more vital (and complicated) than ever for businesses to understand their own customers and the journeys they undertake which lead to conversion.

3. Customer Feedback

Feedback can be collected in a wide variety of ways, some more user-friendly than others, but it can all be used to improve the customer experience. Even if the improvement is just to stop showing them survey pop-ups all the time.

One popular and less obtrusive method of doing this is the Net Promoter Score. This is a customer loyalty metric based on one direct question: How likely is it that you would recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague?

The final NPS score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of customers who are detractors (those who are unhappy with your site) from the percentage of customers who are promoters (your most loyal enthusiasts). Promoters - Detractors = NPS.

4. Conversion Funnel Analysis

Tracking and analysis of the traffic going through your funnel stages (Product page -> Basket page -> Checkout) for an e-commerce website or simply stages to completion of a sign up form is probably the most crucial part of the conversion rate optimisation process. Identifying any drawbacks and improving these stages can significantly increase the conversion rate.

5. Segmentation and Personalized Experience

Providing a more personalized experience for your customers can be a real deal when it comes to conversion rate optimisation. You can simply segment your traffic using various demographic and firmographic criteria and offer them more relevant content.

The more specific and relevant your content be the more your traffic will engage with your content.

Constant testing doesn't just mean a possible increase in conversion. It will also lead to a better user experience. Removing barriers, simplifying forms, clarifying navigation, all these things lead to an improved customer journey and therefore making your site a better place to browse.